First MVNO in Israel
 

The Rami-Levi supermarket chain launchet it's MVNO today in two locations in Jerusalem, to be followed by sales points in more supermarkets within a few weeks. Most of these are located in suburban shopping areas and will not be easy to find unless one has a car.
The MVNO uses Pelephone's 3G 850/2100 Mhz network.
The prepaid rates are as follows:
SIM card - NIS 39.9
Voice: NIS 0.39/min.
SMS: 0.29/message.
Data: NIS 0.29/MB.
Data packages - NIS 69/5MB, NIS 99/10MB.
Monthly fee - NIS 4.9.

Two more MVNO's are expected to launch within 2-3 months, but details of prices have not yet been published. "Five" will use Both Pelephone 3G and Orange's 2G 900/3G 2100 networks, and Alon Cellular, based on the Mega supermarket chain and Alon gas stations will use the Orange infrastructure.

Can we assume that incoming calls and SMSes are free??
 

Can we assume that incoming calls and SMSes are free??

If it's like all others in Israel : yes.
Fortget the "air time" used in US ;)

There is an error, how can 1 MB cost 0.29 NIS and 10 MB cost 99 NIS ? It's 0.99 ?

And are there bigger packages ? Or can you take 20 10MB packages ? or something automatic that doesn't move you to regular rate ?

About "five" : It use 2 networks "simultaneously" ? The coverage would be excellent then.

1. Incoming calls and massages are free on all Israeli networks (CPP - calling party pays).
2. The data packages are, of course, 5 and 10 GB.
3. Technical details of the future "Five" MVNO have not yet been published. It was only disclosed that the company has agreements with both Pelephone and Orange. Anyway both companies have excellent coverage with Orange using only 2G in less populated areas (mostly in the south) and Pelephone using 3G 2100 in most populated areas but 3G 850 in some ares, which is not accessible with most European handsets.

Thanks, prices are great, but it look like we will have buch of MVNO, sometimes from company who are not in this business (shops, banks, etc...), it will be harder to choose.

AND BTW most recent 3G cellphones support 850Mhz UMTS, even if we don't use it that much in europe.

Thanks for your info, sperial. I added this page:
Rami-Levy (Israel)
could you please provide me the "unknown" details?

A "Five" representative appeared today on forums and a facebook page was opened. The company's web page is still under construction, but expected to go on air within a few days.

In reply to my question the representative declared that both Orange and Pelephone networkswill be used simultaneously, an unusual feature useful in cases of breakdowns, as both companies have excellent national coverage.

So FIVE seems to be up and running, but I have some difficulties in reading in hebrew! :D Could Sperial help us? :D

The Five web site is on air, inviting users to join a trial, and cell phone businesses to sell their products.
A number of cell phones with Five SIM cards were distributed to school children in the town of Sderot several weeks ago and a country wide trial will follow in February. Commercial distribution of SIM cards is expected around April 2012.

The most interesting feature of the Five SIM card will be a dynamic IMSI number: Upon detecting a SIM roaming on a roaming partner's network, the SIM card will be assigned a local IMSI, allowing very cheap roaming services, as the line will be recognized as local by the host network.

A new MVNO was launched last week - Home Cellular. With outlets at the "Home Center" hardware stores the prepaid rates are NIS 0.39/min, NIS 0.39/SMS and NIS 0.50/MB data. No monthly fee.
Home Cellular runs on Cellcom's GSM1800 and 3G2100 network.

The launch of the "Five" MVNO is deleyed indefinitely after the company was sold to a new owner